Magic Duels Tips And Tricks

Turn Off Damage Effects

Turning off damage effects greatly speeds up a game, which allows you to grind gold faster. It's also very annoying in multiplayer. TURN THEM OFF!

To turn off damage effects go into options and disable Combat Animations.

Which Set To Unlock First

Previously, it was generally advised to unlock Magic Origins set first, but Kaladesh and Aether Revolt seems to be the way to go now. Vehicles are very powerful and can be crewed by less "powerful" creatures. Many Kaladesh/Aether Revolt decks are aggresive, which is good for grinding gold against the computer for quick wins.

I have been finding that some older decks vs computer are not as easy to win since the AI/decks has been improving over the last few releases, the aggresive nature of Kaladesh/Aether Revolt, lots of flying vehicles and artifacts. Since flyer defense wasnt as important you can get beat in the air or by a more aggresive AI against when playing slower deck.

Origins is versitile, and cards will work in a variety of decks. So it may be a viable 3rd option.
Magic Origins decks may not keep up with the current multiplayer meta, but should still be viable. There are still a number of pretty solid decks to play, and plenty of guides on YouTube from when duels was first released.
U/R thopters is still considered a top tier deck, which is only made stronger with cards from Kaladesh/Aether revolt.
Here are some good Origins only decks:

Next is Shadows Over Innistrad. Similar to Magic Origins, Shadows Over Innistrad is versitile and cards will fit into many builds.

Next is Eldritch Moon. It is a smaller set with good power level and has good synergy with the the previous sets. At this point you should have a decent collection and it may be worth picking up a couple packs of Oath of the Gatewatch and Battle for Zendikar and hope you can get some of the chase cards from these sets.

Next is Oath of the Gatewatch, then Battle for Zendikar. With all the Eldrazi/Allies synergy in these to sets it may be hard to build a consistant deck until you unlock a majority of cards in either set.
These to sets synergize well with each other, but there are still some pretty solid cards in both sets.

Older sets frequently go on sale, so it may be a good idea to focus on those sets since there are plenty of good cards in every set.

Grinding Gold

Do your daily quest, you can re-roll them too if they are low payout or you dont like the quest.

Doing the campaign gives you quite a bit of gold and unlocks free cards from the "D" set, tutorials grant gold as well.

Your first multiplayer win of the day grants bonus gold. Although, it's generally faster to play the computer if you are grinding gold. You should be able to win on hard about 90% of the time once you have a decent deck and get the hang of the game.

* New cards will not be added to Magic Duels, I wouldnt recommend spending much if any money on gold anymore...
Buy some gold and support Magic Duels if you enjoy the game. Magic Duels is a game you can sink tons of time playing for a (relatively) low cost. The largest gold package should unlock a full set or at least most of it. If you just started now, it will take quite a bit of grinding to unlock all the sets.

Disable Combat Animations in options to speed up games.

Story Mode and vs Computer

If you are having trouble with a particular mission, just restart the match until you have a good starting hand. Same with vs. just restart if you get a bad draw.

VS Mode

Don't be afraid to concede, it's not considered bad etiquette to quit if you know you are going to lose. That being said you never know and sticking out the match may result in a win.

If your opponet concedes you have the option to stick it out and play against the AI. This may be good option if you have multiplayer quests to complete as you still get credit for the quest objectives. You still get the gold for the win even if the AI beats you, so stick around and play some extra turns.

Deck Building

I don't recommend the in game deck wizard. It will give you some really bad choices in most cases, and you have no way of editing them out after. That being said, it's good to get a general idea of different archetypes in game and can be used as a starting point.

If you havent unlocked many cards, check out these decks into Magic Arena Deckbuilder here.

OriginMD has uploaded a number of starter decks with youtube guides included.

In addition, you can now search for decks containing specific sets on the decklist screen. You may want to check the archives for older decks from previous seasons.

Use the Arrow Buttons to Select Ablities

Clicking the text on a Planeswalker/Multiple abilites card can oftentimes, select the wrong abiltity. When you zoom in on a card with multiple abilites, arrows pop up on the right side. Use those instead.

General Gameplay Tips

*there are exceptions to pretty much every rule. Magic the Gathering is a complex game

Don't be afraid to take damage.

If you have enough land on the field, keep land in your some land in your hand. Your opponent may think you have some combat tricks in your hand.

If you are not sure what to play, generally playing on curve is the correct choice. If you have 3 mana, play the 3 mana card. Generally you want to spend all your mana each turn.

Play cards on your end step and not at the begining of turn. Unless there is a good reason, you should play cards on your end step. This will leave the opponet guessing what you are going to do and can infuence/bluff your opponent. If you play all you cards right away you give valuble information to your opponent, do they have a counter or pump spell in hand?, do they have enough mana/draw a land this turn?, should I block/cast spell now or see if they play a more powerful card?, are they leaving mana open for a instant spell/counter?

Use instants speed spells and abilites on your opponents turn. Leaving mana open with cards in hand may influence how your opponent plays their turn, and make them think you have a combat trick in hand.

Use tap and bounce (return owners to hand) spells on the opponents turn, they can't attack with that creature and wont be able to block on your turn.

You may want to save your removal spells, for later in game to remove bigger threats.

You may want save some creatures in hand in case your opponent has a sweeper spell, espessally if you are ahead.

Dont underestimate card draw and scry spells, they are very powerful. Card advantage is very important. Every deck doesnt need it, and dont cram too much. But, when I was new I didnt realize how powerful they were.

Use 60 card decks and don't skimp land. You should generally be running at least 24(40%) lands in a deck. There are exceptions, but it's tempting to cut lands for more stuff when you are a beginner, but its usually not a good idea. 60 cards is recommended, your decks will be more consistant.

Again, Turn Off Damage Effects

In case you missed it the first time,turning off damage effects greatly speeds up a game, which allows you to grind gold faster. It's also very annoying in multiplayer. TURN THEM OFF!

To turn off damage effects go into options and disable Combat Animations.

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